Dolphin Societies: Discoveries and Puzzles

Karen Pryor + Kenneth S. Norris (editors)

As a collection of scientific papers, Dolphin Societies has its
drawbacks for the general reader. The lack of an introduction to
basic dolphin ecology and biology limits accessibility and some of
the material is on the technical side: details of theodolite tracking,
aerial photography, and spectrograph analysis, for example. The core
ideas of the papers are not complex, however, and there is plenty in
Dolphin Societies that will be of broad interest.

Seven of the papers are studies of dolphin behaviour in the wild,
covering herd structure, hunting, and play in Black Sea bottlenose
dolphins; dolphin near-shore movement patterns; killer whale feeding
ecology; killer whale interaction with boats; spinner dolphin behaviour
in tuna nets before being released; long-term changes in a bottlenose
dolphin community; and structure in large oceanic dolphin schools.
Two papers report on laboratory studies: using teeth to track dolphin
age and life-cycle events and using evidence from reproductive organs
to assess the importance of post-reproductive female pilot whales.
Studies of captive dolphins look at aggression and homosexual interaction
between two male bottlenose dolphins, the cognitive abilities of dolphins
and the extent of their knowledge of the world, "signature" whistles,
and the psychoacoustics of dolphin echolocation.

No attempt is made to fit the papers into an overarching theoretical
structure. Some short essays by Pryor and Norris do, however, set them
in their in broader context, touching on methodological issues and the
history of marine mammal science. Dolphin Societies gives a good feel
for how much progress has been made in understanding cetacean behaviour,
but it also highlights how far behind it lags work on other animals.
More sophisticated technology and methodological insights from broader
ethology will provide solutions to existing puzzles — and new vistas
for exploration.